avatarCarolyn Hastings

Summary

"Crush at First Sight" is a short story by Carolyn Hastings that explores the experience of a young girl named Clare as she navigates the exhilarating and confusing sensations of her first crush on a boy named Simon.

Abstract

The narrative "Crush at First Sight" delves into the innocent and electrifying experience of Clare's first crush as she starts at a new school. Upon entering the classroom, Clare is immediately captivated by Simon, a blond-headed boy sitting by the window. The story captures the whirlwind of emotions that Clare feels, from the physical sensations of tingling and blushing to the excitement of sitting behind Simon and learning his name. Despite her attempts to focus on settling into her new environment, Clare's thoughts continually return to Simon, who is unaware of her infatuation. The tale is a spinoff from Hastings' kid-lit manuscript, where Clare and Simon's friendship is a subplot, and it addresses themes of young love, the complexities of unrequited feelings, and the early stages of forming a connection with someone special.

Opinions

  • The author, Carolyn Hastings, views the experience of a first crush as a significant and formative event in a young person's life, worthy of exploration and reflection.
  • Hastings acknowledges the importance of writing prompts and community challenges in inspiring authors to explore new narratives and perspectives, as evidenced by her participation in the GiaB writing prompt #2–3 on "first crush."
  • The story suggests that the emotions associated with a first crush can be both exhilarating and overwhelming, highlighting the intensity of Clare's physical and emotional responses to Simon.
  • Hastings implies that the connection between Clare and Simon may develop further in her manuscript, as their friendship is a subplot in her larger work.
  • The author expresses gratitude towards other writers and the Medium community for encouraging her to write and share this spinoff story, emphasizing the collaborative and supportive nature of the writing community on the platform.
  • Hastings hints at the potential for characters with special learning needs to be represented in literature, as both Clare and Simon have undiagnosed learning difficulties in the story.

Short Story Spinoff | Young Love

Crush at First Sight

GiaB prompt #2–3: first crush

Image by congerdesign from Pixabay

It happened just like that.

Crush at first sight.

Of course, she didn’t know it was a crush. How could she? She’d never in all her 11 years of innocence experienced the tingling exhilaration of infatuation.

All she knew was that one minute she was standing self-consciously with her teacher at the front of the class, and the next being jolted by a myriad of tiny sparks coursing through her young body.

She barely heard the teacher say, “Attention, everyone. This is Clare, the new student I told you about yesterday.”

She was, however, acutely aware of the blond-headed boy sitting on his own by the window.

Clare was aware that her head was doing a weird spinning-like-a-top thing, and her knees felt like they might buckle. In fact, she wasn’t sure what her knees were doing. Was she still standing?

She forced herself to look around the room. To focus on the sea of unfamiliar faces. Her classmates and soon-to-be friends.

“Let’s all say, ‘Good morning’ to Clare,” the teacher continued.

A ragged chorus of greetings, intermingled with claps and a few boisterous ‘woo-hoos’, ensued. Clare’s right ear was alert for any sound coming from the vicinity of the window. She didn’t know why, but his was the only voice she wanted to hear.

Was it extra-sensory perception that made her tingle?

‘Is he looking at me,’ Clare wondered — hoped.

Resisting the urge to turn her head, Clare instead peeked sideways at the boy through her flop of mousy-brown hair. It was a strategy she’d perfected over recent months. One that came in handy when appropriating the correct spelling of words from her classmates’ workbooks.

She was surprised to find that he wasn’t looking at her at all.

A thud of disappointment hit her in the stomach. She turned her attention to the rest of the class and plastered a smile on her face. Another strategy she’d learned.

Her teacher tapped her on the shoulder and whispered. “Clare, I’ve made a place for you over there by the window, behind Simon.”

Clare looked in the direction her teacher was pointing.

Her heart somersaulted in her chest. It was all she could do to stifle the squeal bursting from her throat.

The only vacant seat on that side of the room was the one behind the blond-headed boy!

‘His name’s Simon!’ Clare sang to herself and more sparks shot around her body.

As Clare approached, Simon turned his head and looked directly at her. She felt herself fall into his eyes. The sensation was exquisite. She’d never known anyone who could smile with their eyes like that. It made her feel special. Connected somehow.

A flooding warmth washed over her neck and face. Another new sensation!

Blushing!

Oh, how embarrassing!

She quickly took her seat and hoped that no one had observed her turning poppy red. Her heart was pounding. She was electrified. Jittery.

Clare spent the rest of the day deliberately keeping herself occupied with the business of settling into her new school. She tried desperately hard not to let her eyes wander to Simon’s back, or hover over the length of his neck, the tuck of his ears, the whorl on his crown.

Nothing in Simon’s behavior made her believe he was aware of her like she was of him.

At one point, Simon left the room when a woman came to the classroom door and gestured to him to come. After lunch the woman returned to the classroom. This time she stayed, helping a group of students, including Simon. Clare wished she could be part of the group.

Clare loitered outside the classroom after school surreptitiously observing Simon as he packed his bag. Keeping her distance, she followed him across the school yard to the main gate.

She watched as he climbed into the front passenger seat of a silver SUV. She saw him lean over and kiss the female driver on the cheek. Clare’s heart did a dance as she imagined being the one receiving the kiss. The SUV pulled away from the curb and was soon out of sight.

Clare ran to the gate at the other end of the school yard where she knew her mother would be waiting.

“Hello, sweetheart,” her mother said, reaching to give her a hug. “How did you go?”

Clare’s face lit up. “Oh, mum, it was great! I have the best-ever seat in the classroom!”

© Carolyn Hastings 2021

This is a spinoff story to one of my yet-to-be-published, kid-lit manuscripts. To be more precise, it’s my first manuscript. Technically, it’s a WIP (work-in-progress), in that I’m forever tweaking and revising it. It’s often the way with first manuscripts. They’re experimental training grounds for developing skills, making mistakes, fixing them — and re-re-re-fixing them! I hope I can knock it into shape enough to have it published. It’s a story that’s been bubbling in my head for nearly 20 years.

In my WIP, Clare is a secondary character and Simon is the main character. The evolution of their friendship is a subplot in the story. Writing this spinoff story explores the budding — or rather, the germination — of their relationship from Clare’s perspective.

This is not the first time I’ve written about Clare. I have another unpublished manuscript, a realistic fantasy, that has Clare as a seven-year-old. Interestingly, part of that story takes place at the front of her classroom where she is confronted with a ‘sea of faces’ — familiar ones, and no tingles!

If you’re wondering why I included the paragraph about the woman who helps Simon with his schoolwork, it’s because Simon has special learning needs. So does Clare. The difference is, Simon’s were identified when he was very young, while Clare’s learning difficulties are as yet undiagnosed. The woman and the classroom teacher are both secondary characters in my WIP, as are the two mothers.

I have several people I would like to thank for giving me the incentive to write this spinoff story. The first being Victor Sarkin for setting Genius in a Bottle’s latest writing prompt, first crush. Victor has written his own personal account of his first crush. It is a truly delightful piece of writing. I urge all of you to read it, along with the details of how to join the prompt.

I also have Somsubhra Banerjee to thank. Som challenged me and several other poets here on Medium, to add the short story feather to our literary caps. I’d thought then of adjusting one of the chapters from my WIP. I made a start but got stuck — or distracted — or lazy — or all three! Thank you, Som, and apologies for making you wait so long. 😔 🙏

Then there’s Anne Chisom. I read one of Anne’s pieces where she wrote about using the fictional characters and settings from her own WIP to inspire spinoff poems and short stories that she can share with her readers on Medium. I messaged her recently, letting her know I was having a crack at doing likewise, and I’d tag her if the story came together well enough to be published. Anne, thank you for encouraging me. 🙏 💕

And lastly, but only because she was the most recent one to nudge me into action, is Katie Michaelson. Katie has taken to writing story bites, microfiction of sub-150 words. That’s precision writing on a different scale! I’m not sure I’m up to it yet. I had enough trouble keeping this story under the 750-word max — scraped in with 1 word to spare!

As well as Somsubhra, Anne, and Katie, I’d like to invite some more writer friends to consider joining GiaB’s first crush writing prompt — Lucy Dan 蛋小姐 (she/her/她) | Sahil Patel | John K Adams | Dr. Preeti Singh | Margie Willis | Steve Williams — and any others who feel inspired. ✨

Thank you all for reading. 🙏 💕

Giabprompt
Fiction
Short Story
First Love
Infatuation
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